Fujinon's amazing new 46x 4K broadcast lens

NAB 2018 was a lens fetishists dream. Fujinon showed us its latest products, including a seriously impressive piece of 4K broadcast glass.

The lens is the single most important part of a camera, alongside the sensor of course. The theory is that glass will last a lot longer than electronics gear, so if you invest wisely your investement should last for as long as your career in many cases.

But the modern world of video isn't quite as forgiving as it once was. Full-frame sensors are now becoming much more ubiquitous, and those who have invested in lenses designed to cover an APS-C or S35 sensor area were at risk of finding themselves with glass that simply won't work very well with the larger sensors.

The SpeedBooster adapters from Metabones are excellent at making full-frame or S35 lenses work with smaller sensor sizes. Well now Fujinon have realised that expensive S35 lenses should be made to work with larger sensors. The new adapter from the company achieves this by optically enlarging the lenses projected area onto the larger sensor area.

So far it works with PL lenses such as the Cabrio line, and yes, there are some drawbacks. The main one being a 1-stop loss of light transmission. However, faced with a choice between buying an adapter and buying a new $40k lens, it is clear to see the value in simply using your existing glass, unless uber short DOF is your aim.

There's no price as yet, but it is estimated to be around $5000-$6000.

Lastly Fujinon showed us its 46x 2/3" 4K capable portable broadcast lens, which forms part of its UA line. This behemoth is certainly impressive to look at, and it is aimed at applications such as in helicopters or other areas where a huge zoom range is essential.

To find out more check out our interview with Marc from Fujifilm at this years NAB below!